Frankfurt

The largest games studios in Germany in 2024 (by employees) – as of August 14, 2024

A lot of movement in a turbulent market: These are the games developers with the most employees in Germany in 2024.

In the annual GamesWirtschaft survey of the largest computer game developers in Germany, two opposing developments can be seen:

• Compared to the previous year, job cuts are clearly evident across the industry, particularly (but not exclusively) affecting the branches of large corporations.
• At the same time, the federal government’s games funding provides a certain degree of stability and planning security – at least for those studios that submitted their concepts in good time before the application freeze in May 2023 and are now comparatively can work relaxed on completing their games.

It is in the nature of things that the largest subsidies go to the big studios – such as Ubisoft Mainz (Year 117: Pax Romana), InnoGames, King Art, Deck13 or CipSoft. Only there are the appropriate structures to implement projects with budgets in the high single-digit, sometimes double-digit million range.

Other abnormalities:

• Three studios in the top 10 are operated by Ubisoft – with 11th place (Kolibri Games) there are even four. Including the headquarters in Düsseldorf, the French publisher employs almost 900 people – second place in the employer ranking.
• Berlin is the capital of games development – with 13 (!) studios alone that employ more than 50 people and four companies in the top 10. In second and third place: Bavaria (7) and Hesse (6). Surprisingly: In North Rhine-Westphalia there are an enormous number of small and medium-sized companies, but only one ‘big one’, namely Ubisoft Düsseldorf.
• Of the 36 studios listed, almost half are online and mobile games specialists – the other half produce classic PC and console games.
• The greater Frankfurt am Main area remains the ‘action/role-playing stronghold’ of Germany – with studios like Crytek (Hunt: Showdown, Crysis 4), Cloud Imperium Games, Deck13 (Atlas Traps), Keen Games (Enshrouded) and Gunzilla Games.

Please note: The analysis only includes studios that develop their own games on a substantial scale at the respective location. Companies whose focus is on publishing – such as Aerosoft, Astragon, Daedalic, Plaion or Gameforge – are therefore not included.

The 2024 overview of the country’s largest games companies – including publishers, agencies, distributors, console manufacturers and media houses – can be found here.

Stand: 14. August 2024

1. Crytek (Frankfurt am Main / Hessen) – 405
2. Ubisoft Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf / NRW) – 400
3. InnoGames (Hamburg) – 350
4. Whoa (Berlin) – 325
5. Goodgame Studios (Hamburg)- 270
6. Ubisoft Mainz (Mainz / Rhineland-Palatinate) – 175
7. GameDuell (Berlin) – 130
8. Yager (Berlin) – 130
9. Ubisoft Berlin (Berlin) – 120
10. Travian Games (Munich / Bavaria) – 120

Studios with more than 100 employees:

• Kolibri Games (Berlin) – 115
• King Art (Bremen) – 110
• Limbic Entertainment (Langen / Hesse) – 110
• Upyer (Bamberg / Bavaria) – 110
• Aesir Interactive (Munich / Bavaria) – 105
• Cloud Imperium Games (Frankfurt am Main / Hessen) – 105
• Bigpoint (Hamburg) – 100
• CipSoft (Regensburg / Bavaria) – 100
• King (Berlin) – 100
• Sandbox Interactive (Berlin) – 100

Studios with more than 50 employees:

• Weltenbauer (Wiesbaden / Hesse) – 95
• Bytro Labs (Hamburg) – 90
• Deck13 Interactive (Frankfurt am Main / Hessen) – 90
• HandyGames (Giebelstadt / Bavaria) – 80
• Hologate (Munich / Bavaria) – 80
• Wargaming Europe (Berlin) – 80
• Fishlabs (Hamburg) – 70
• Grimlore Games (Munich / Hamburg) – 70
• Klang (Berlin) – 70
• Keen Games (Frankfurt am Main / Hessen) – 60
• Popcore (Berlin) – 60
• Stratosphere Games (Berlin) – 60
• Softgames (Berlin) – 55
• Black Forest Games (Offenburg / Baden-Württemberg) – 50
• Gunzilla Games (Frankfurt am Main / Hessen) – 50
• Sunday (Berlin) – 50